tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47640010396421018922017-08-16T15:27:13.092-07:00Kahn's CornerMatt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.comBlogger278125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-80625907123975909692017-07-14T12:44:00.000-07:002017-07-15T00:51:49.162-07:00A Proposed Taxonomy of Conspiracism<div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;">&nbsp;Not too long ago, I read Jesse Walker’s <i>The United States of Paranoia</i>, which covers conspiracy culture in US political history, ranging from colonial fears of Indian insurrection to 9/11 truthers. Where Walker’s book excelled compared to others I’ve read on the subject is his decision to focus on paranoia as opposed to conspiracism, thereby avoiding the pedantic delimiting of the grey area between the two. His thesis, in simple terms, is that a) paranoid thinking has played a non-neglible role in American history since its beginnings and b) that despite claims by other researchers of the subject (especially Hofstadter), this paranoia is not only prevalent on the fringes. Walker makes a point of refuting claims that it is only during extreme cases that paranoia becomes rampant across the political and social spectrum (e.g. the Satanism scares in the 1980s). While he accomplishes this, he does so at the expense of a useful taxonomy of paranoia/conspiracism. Walker defines five types of paranoia that can be mixed and matched, namely the Enemy Within, the Enemy Outside, the Enemy Below, the Enemy Above, and the Benevolent Conspiracy. Walker’s desire to prove that paranoia is not only on the fringes limits the depth of what is otherwise a fantastic overview of the subject. In the aim of furthering his thesis, Walker created a taxonomy in which the only valid distinction is who is the subject of paranoia, but where the degree of paranoia is irrelevant. So within Walker’s taxonomy, a man who has been investigating the banking industry for decades and considers it completely untrustworthy, an economic populist who distrusts centralized banking as part of a broader political view, and a man who believes that all the banks in the world are owned by the Rothschilds to further a Zionist new world order, would all fall into the same category of paranoia. Walker’s categories are insufficient.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> But speaking of conspiracy, rather than paranoia in general, how should a taxonomy be devised? The main goal is to identify useful distinctions. I don’t think there’s a significant distinction between someone who believes the CIA killed Kennedy because he was getting in their way and someone who thinks the FBI killed Kennedy because he was getting in their way, although the belief that he was killed because he was going to publicize the existence of reptilian overlords <i>would </i>be significantly different. I have a tentative taxonomy of conspiracy theories that consists of two factors: scope and perpetrators.</span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> Scope can be broken down into only two categories: limited and open-ended. Every real-world conspiracy theory (from the Tuskegee experiments to Iran-Contra) has fallen into the former category. A limited conspiracy is the use of conspiracy for ultimately non-conspiratorial ends. The moon-landing being faked for the propaganda purposes would fall under this category, because “winning the cold war” isn’t conspiratorial. This is not to say that the ends achieved by a limited conspiracy must be legitimate. Some flat-earthers believe that the reason governments keep the earth’s shape a secret is so they can use the space programs as shell companies to shuffle money around off the books. While hiding funds may be conspiratorial in a legal sense, it isn’t anymore conspiratorial than the claim that “the government doesn’t always want us to know what it does with all its money.” If, however, a flat-earther believes that the governments of the world were hiding the shape of the planet so they could funnel money to create a single world government to enslave us all, then this would be an open-ended conspiracy. People who believe that the contrails from planes are actually chemicals designed to affect the public, tend to fall into the open-ended category, as the purpose of the chemtrails is generally part of a larger, more sinister ploy. Notably, most open-ended conspiracies tend to focus on a new world order, often some form of single world government. Whether this is run by the Illuminati, the Jews, the Jesuits, the Reptilians, Satan, etc. depends largely on when and where the conspiracy arises. </span><br /><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> The second taxonomy, perpetrators, can be split into three categories, which I call: Mostly Harmless, Partisan, and Cabal. While I’ve named this “perpetrators,” this is more than just a simple <i>cui bono?</i> As indicated by the first category of perpetrator, the supposed victims of the conspiracy are taken into account. In the first category, even according to the conspiracists, there is little actual harm done. At most, it’s the truth that is harmed, and the deception is itself the greatest evil involved. Who benefits is, I believe, of secondary importance in these examples. Those who believe that the moon landing was faked or that evidence of Bigfoot is being systematically hidden would fall into this category. No one is being seriously harmed by the perpetuation of these conspiracies. Children aren’t being pimped out of a pizza parlor, skyscrapers aren’t being blown up, aliens aren’t taking over the earth. </span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> “Partisan” would refer to cases where there is one large group that benefits at the expense of another. While only a small number of people need be aware of the actual conspiracy, it benefits the entire group. Some of those who believe that the Sandy Hook shooting was a ploy to enact gun control laws would fall into this group. Within this conspiracy, only a small number of people would actually be complicit, but all who advocated for gun control in its wake would benefit. Likewise people who thought that the Bush administration was responsible for 9/11 to aid the popularity of Bush and his party, or that FDR allowed Pearl Harbor to happen to stymie isolationists. It should be noted that many Partisan conspiracies focus on the same events as “Cabal” conspiracies. The main difference between the two is that in the latter, it is only the conspirators who benefit, not everyone on their side. (e.g. people who believe that Sandy Hook was meant to lead to the confiscation of guns and the enslavement of all Americans, regardless of their position on gun control, would fall into the “Cabal” group).</span></div><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></div><br /><div style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , serif;"> I think the best example of a Cabal conspiracy is the anti-vaxxers. In their view, the medical industry is intentionally giving kids autism. Most people who are pro-vaccine are not part of the conspiracy, but as opposed to liberals who participate in “the war on Christmas,” those who unwittingly aid the conspirators are themselves harmed. The Cabal can also be clandestine. As opposed to something as visible and publicly debated as anti-vaxxers, this could be a Rothschild secretly tightening control on the banking systems, waiting for the right time to strike.</span></div>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-81272489184455278052017-06-25T09:41:00.000-07:002017-06-25T09:41:20.196-07:00Review: The Code Book by Simon Singh (1999)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DASBcfdHJDs/WU_AdLodWxI/AAAAAAAABtk/6lKKaK2aieQdIxeJr0wy_stF61bkCJ06QCLcBGAs/s1600/code_book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DASBcfdHJDs/WU_AdLodWxI/AAAAAAAABtk/6lKKaK2aieQdIxeJr0wy_stF61bkCJ06QCLcBGAs/s320/code_book.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />I have what is either a very bad habit or a very good habit. &nbsp;Whenever I come across a reference to a book on a subject I know very little about, I put everything else I want to read aside and read that book instead. &nbsp;In this case, the subject was cryptography, and the book is Simon Singh's <i>The Code Book.</i>&nbsp; Covering the history of codemaking and codebreaking from ancient civilizations, through the development of mechanical enciphering (esp. the Enigma machine and Bletchley Park) and up to public key encryption and the possibilities implied by quantum computing. &nbsp;All of this, with a brief detour into the deciphering of Hieroglyphics and Linear B, is explained in terms that a layman (i.e. me) can understand. <br /><br />One reason I hesitate to review books like this is my knowledge on the subject is so scarce that I can't really speak to its veracity. &nbsp;Unlike some non-fiction books (*cough* <i>Freakonomics</i>&nbsp;*cough*), there are no obvious problems that stick out. &nbsp;This is not a bad thing, but could indicate a very good book or a book that seems very good to someone who doesn't know what they're talking about (i.e. me). &nbsp;Anyway, assuming Singh's work is as well-researched and accurate as it appears to me, it's a good primer on a subject that will only become more relevant to the average person as time passes.Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-24559055645680717252017-06-12T05:34:00.000-07:002017-06-12T05:34:05.757-07:00The Problem of Eternity in Barnes' "The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters""The Dream," the final chapter of Julian Barnes' novel in stories <i>The History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters </i>(1989), takes place in heaven. &nbsp;It begins with the unnamed narrator of this chapter declaring that "I dreamt that I woke up. &nbsp;It's the oldest dream of all, and I've just had it." Heaven is the place where you get everything you want. &nbsp;To the narrator's delight, he has unlimited access to the best food, he can play golf every day, and have sex with beautiful women every night. &nbsp;As one of heaven's employees (whether they're angels, or former people, or something else entirely is never clarified) states, "'the principle of heaven [is] that you get what you want, what you expect.'" &nbsp;There's no hell, just "something we <i>call</i>&nbsp;Hell. &nbsp;But it's more like a theme park. &nbsp;You know, skeletons popping out and frightening you..." &nbsp;The only positive thing on earth that's absent in heaven is dreaming. &nbsp;But as perfect and wonderful as heaven is, "there aren't an infinite number of possibilities." &nbsp;The narrator eventually gets so good at golf that he hits a hole in one on every shot. &nbsp;Eventually, he completely masters every sport. &nbsp;Asking one of the employees what will happen, eventually, and what heaven was like in the old days, he discovers that "If you want to die off, you do. &nbsp;You just have to want it long enough and that's it, it happens" and "everyone takes the option [to die], sooner or later." &nbsp;Eventually, the narrator decides that the time has come, so he goes to bed, planning to decide on death once he wakes up. &nbsp;The next and final line of the story is "I dreamt that I woke up. &nbsp;It's the oldest dream of all, and I've just had it." &nbsp;While it's possible to read this line as a simple restatement of the opening, the fact that this line takes place immediately after the narrator goes to bed and decides to start dying, and the fact that Barnes specifically established that people don't dream in heaven, suggests that the story is cyclical. &nbsp;Once you get so tired of eternal paradise that you want to die, you start over. &nbsp;The idea of a cyclical afterlife is not rare in fiction. But it usually describes hell.<br /><br />The earliest work I know of to present a cyclical afterlife is Flann O'Brien's <i>The Third Policeman</i>&nbsp;(written in 1939-40, though not published for a couple decades), in which an unnamed narrator finds himself awaiting execution in an increasingly surreal environment until, at the end, he discovers that he has been dead throughout, and the sequence of events that unfolded, and which he has already begun to forget, will repeat as a punishment for his sins. A sort of <i>Dante in Wonderland</i>. &nbsp;I can think of a few other examples off the top of my head. &nbsp;"Judgment Night," an early Twilight Zone episode, features a German waking up on a British cruise liner during WWII, not knowing how he got there or why he is certain the ship is going to be sunk. &nbsp;It turns out he was a Nazi submarine captain who ordered the passenger ship torpedoed, and now spends eternity living and reliving the suffering he caused. &nbsp;Stephen King and Neil Gaiman have both written stories that deal with a cyclical hell ("That Feeling You Can Only Say What It Is in French" and "Other People," respectively, although I personally think the latter may be purgatorial rather than infernal). In Joshua Fialkov's comic series, "The Life After," suicides relive the same day for eternity. <br /><br />So why, if endless repetition is consistently presented as divine punishment, is it heaven in Barnes's novel? &nbsp;Perhaps the answer lies in how we construe heaven. &nbsp;Putting aside religious literature* for the moment, how is heaven, as an afterlife, portrayed in modern fiction? &nbsp;Well, when it is portrayed, it often ends up as a kind of "happily ever after" scenario (as in, e.g., the Albert Brooks movie&nbsp;<i>Defending Your Life </i>(1991)). &nbsp;Other times, it serves as a useful plot element, usually as a way to let the dead speak (e.g., Alice Sebold's&nbsp;<i>The Lovely Bones </i>(2002) or Vonnegut's <i>God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian</i>, a series of radioplays where Vonnegut interviews dead historical figures). &nbsp;The point I'm getting at, is that the experience of an eternal life in heaven is rarely dealt with in modern fiction. &nbsp;What would something like that look like? &nbsp;One example that sticks in my mind comes from Jhonen Vasquez's graphic novel, <i>Johnny the Homicidal Maniac </i>(1997) in which the titular character, touring the afterlife, visits heaven, only to find millions of people sitting quietly and staring into space. &nbsp;When he asks what the deal is, he's told that all the people there are perfectly content. &nbsp;And so they sit there. &nbsp;Eternally. (Well, except for a brief spate of hyper-violence, anyway). <br /><br />If this endless, passive contentment doesn't sound appealing, what type of eternity could we have? We could consider an eternal soul that is stripped of our human desires, that becomes something fundamentally different from what we were when we were alive, but then you can't say that it is "you" who are in eternal paradise, anymore than it is "you" who would be absorbed into the soil after burial. What Barnes has realized is that perhaps eternity is inherently hostile to human consciousness. &nbsp; As Barnes' narrator concludes, "Heaven's a very good idea, it's a perfect idea you could say, but not for us. &nbsp;Not given the way we are." &nbsp;But the alternative is non-existence. &nbsp;The underlying unease in this chapter can be summed up by one question: What if this is the best possible scenario?<br /><br /><br />*By religious literature, I mean works that are specifically aimed at a religious audience and that claim some spiritual value, whether this be a Lloyd C. Douglas biblical epic or <i>Left Behind</i>. &nbsp;Heaven, for these writers, is a oneness with god, and is a theological issue, not a narrative one. <br /><br /><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-58925175796332510962017-05-24T07:34:00.000-07:002017-05-24T07:36:24.876-07:00Run Program by Scott Meyer (2017) review<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vrLANm1P_l0/WSRvADHJUoI/AAAAAAAABs4/FD4roQ7pQic8w5uAhhimnyBvijwakYwmQCLcB/s1600/run_program_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vrLANm1P_l0/WSRvADHJUoI/AAAAAAAABs4/FD4roQ7pQic8w5uAhhimnyBvijwakYwmQCLcB/s320/run_program_cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">Run Program&nbsp;</i><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;">will be released on June 20th, 2017</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><i><br /></i></div><i></i><br /><div><i><i><br /></i></i></div><i>Run Program</i>&nbsp;follows Hope Takeda, who works at a tech company as a lab assistant in an experimental A.I. development program. &nbsp;The job is far less rewarding or stimulating than it sounds. &nbsp;Or rather, it was, before the A.I. escaped. &nbsp;What makes this different from any of the countless "A.I. on the loose" stories is that the A.I. (named Al) is the mental equivalent of a six year old human.* &nbsp;His motives, personality, and intellectual abilities are akin to those of an average first-grader, if the average first grader could control airplanes with his mind and transfer vast sums of money through online banking apps. &nbsp;Unsurprisingly, the government isn't too happy about this, and so begins the quest to locate and contain Al, who has plans of his own, dragging in everyone from disgruntled scientists, surprisingly profound soldiers, and a self-declared genius who has decided to call himself The Voice of Reason.<br /><div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><div><i>Run Program </i>is a comedy, though not of the wacky <i>Hitchhicker's Guide </i>variety. &nbsp;To get a feel for Meyer's sense of humor, you can check out his webcomic <a href="http://www.basicinstructions.net/">Basic Instuctions</a>. &nbsp;There's a lot of observational humor, and a lot of that is workplace humor, which isn't for everyone. &nbsp;Really, go check out some of his webcomics. &nbsp;I think that'll be the best indication of whether or not you'll like the book.&nbsp;</div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>* On a side note, the idea of raising an AI from childhood seems to have been getting more popular within SF in the last decade (and was handled extraordinarily well in Ted Chiang's 2010 novella,&nbsp;<i>The Life Cycle of Software Objects</i>). &nbsp;Meyer doesn't go deep into the theoretical or technical background on this, but is more focused on the immediate impact of a child with practically unlimited power, and the odd results of that situation.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=kahscor-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=1477848738&amp;asins=1477848738&amp;linkId=3a9c5e62250d59ef5a16795714327e27&amp;show_border=false&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=false&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066C0&amp;bg_color=FFFFFF" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"><br /></iframe></div>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-20678072469399272472017-05-16T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-16T05:30:29.397-07:00Fake It Til They Make a Movie About You<span style="font-family: inherit;">Con artists work by gaining your confidence. &nbsp;Hell, it's in the name. &nbsp;Sometimes this is done by creating a thorough and plausible identity. &nbsp;Other times, they just wing it and hope no one will ask questions. Perhaps one the most ballsy types of &nbsp;this scam are people who claim to be close relatives of famous people, especially when those people do not exist. &nbsp;I recently heard about the case of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8131424/Con-artist-faces-jail-for-fraud-after-claiming-to-be-the-twin-daughters-of-TS-Eliot.html">Alison Reynolds</a>, who in 2003 went around claiming to be TS Eliot's twin daughters, Claire and Chess, while scamming the British theater establishment for large sums of cash. &nbsp;There are two basic problems here: TS Eliot had no children, and Reynolds was incapable of being in two places at once. She was forced to drop the identity "<span style="background-color: white;">after theatre staff became suspicious that they had never seen Claire and Chess in the same room." &nbsp;What's baffling is that she was able to get away with this in the age of Google. &nbsp;I'll be honest, I'd watch a movie about a con woman claiming to be the non-existent twins of a famous playwright and, if history is any indication, we might well get one. </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A similar scam was perpetrated in Manhattan in the early 1980s, when David Hampton went around claiming to be Sidney Poitier's son. (Poitier has six daughters, but no sons). &nbsp;His story was the basis of the play and movie <i>Six Degrees of Separation</i>.&nbsp;</span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;">But of course, if we're talking about celebrity impostors, we have to acknowledge the infamous Alan Conway, who didn't settle for pretending to be related to Stanley Kubrick, but claimed that he <i>was&nbsp;</i>Stanley Kubrick. &nbsp;If you think it's a bit funny that a con artist would be named Conway, well so would he, considering that he chose the name for himself, after being charged with numerous frauds. But this is just the kind of boldness you'd expect from a guy who, despite being British, clean shaven, and having "</span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/mar/14/andrewanthony">had apparently only seen a couple of Kubrick's films</a>," managed to keep convincing people he was the real deal. &nbsp;The <a href="http://www.stopsmilingonline.com/story_detail.php?id=777">story of his unmasking</a> is worth a read. &nbsp;It was largely left up to the real Kubrick's assistant, Anthony Frewin, who later went on to write a screenplay about the ordeal, titled <i>Colour Me Kubrick</i>.</span></span>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-59255074162951920732017-05-15T05:30:00.000-07:002017-05-15T05:30:12.552-07:00Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Much Did You Chafe Today?Every now and then, it's nice to remember that president's are still people, who have the same problems as the rest of us. &nbsp;And, the persistent use of secret recordings in the Oval Office from FDR up through the Nixon administration, gives us the ability to hear some of the more mundane difficulties that presidents face. &nbsp;Such as finding a pair of pants with enough room to "let your nuts hang." &nbsp;LBJ's call to his tailor is scandalous in a different sense than most secret white house recordings.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/S3GT9UN7nDo/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/S3GT9UN7nDo?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-54007713561985836632017-05-13T08:55:00.000-07:002017-05-13T08:55:11.247-07:00The Flynn Precedent<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">While there have been a lot of comparisons made between Trump and Jackson (by supporters and opponents), one important similarity keeps getting overlooked. As far as Jackson was concerned, there was only one quality that proved someone's character: Loyalty to Andrew Jackson. While this caused plenty of turmoil within the cabinet (most notably the Eaton Affair), there's one particular event I want to bring up.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">Samuel Swartwout had a checkered past. A military man with plentiful New York political connections, he&nbsp;<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">was rounded up as part of the Burr conspiracy but was eventually released. During the election of 1828, he was a vocal campaigner for Jackson, so the new president decided to give Swartwout a cozy patronage position, as Collector of the Port of New York. To quote from Remini's "Life of Andrew Jackson:"</span></div><div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">"And when Van Buren learned that Jackson intended to appoint Samuel Swartwout to the office he almost collapsed. Not only did Swartwout have criminal tendencies but the [Albany] Regency detested him. Van Buren alerted the President immediately and warned him that Swartwout's appointment would 'not be in accordance with the public sentiment, the interest of the Country or the credit of the administration.' Unfortunately, Jackson refused to listen. He liked Swartwout because he had been an early supporter -- unlike Van Buren -- and so he went ahead with the appointment. In time, of course, Swartwout absconded with $1,222,705.09. It was a monumental theft...<br />When the scandal broke, Jackson's opponents doubled over with laughter. All the talk of rooting out corruption in government, they said, and here the greatest theft in the history of the Republic..."</div><div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">Jackson, like Trump, campaigned on a promise of fighting corruption and waste in government, but, through his own shortcomings, appointed people who were more corrupt than those they replaced. &nbsp;</div></div><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "robert remini jackson"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "934316491cc335a160a90bf1e19ab38e"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-30519416102551088262017-04-16T03:07:00.001-07:002017-04-16T03:13:29.994-07:00The Itsy-Bitsy Spider Has a Name, pero Solo en la HispanidadOne fun thing about living abroad and meeting expats from all over the world is seeing how bits of culture make their way from place to place and the often unpredictable changes they undergo in the process. &nbsp;I was speaking with some grad students from Bolivia and China, the latter explaining how, due to the difficulty most westerners have with pronouncing the different tonalities in Chinese names, she uses a transliterated version of her real name pronounced in Spanish or English, depending on who she's talking to. &nbsp;(N.B. &nbsp;This is actually a trend I've noticed among Chinese students here in Madrid, although many I've met have chosen a typical American/Spanish name rather than a direct transliteration of their real name.) &nbsp;Her name, in Spanish, is pronounced "Huizi" (woo-EET-zee), which the Bolivian pointed out was just like the name of the spider from the kid's song she grew up with.<br /><br /><br /><br /><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Witsi Witsi Araña trepó a la canaleta,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">vino la lluvia y se la llevó.</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">Luego salió el sol, y la lluvia evaporó,</dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;">y Witsi Witsi Araña de nuevo subió.</dd><br /><br />"Witsi Witsi" seems to be the most popular version of the name, but there are variations ranging from "Huitzi Huitzi" to "Gusi Gusi." &nbsp;Otherswise, the lyrics are pretty much identical to the English version of "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," as is the melody. &nbsp;Any suspicion that this might have been a local variation or the creation of a particular teacher evaporated when one of the student's friends arrived and recognized the song. &nbsp;The friend was from Ecuador. (For those without maps handy, Ecuador and Bolivia aren't exactly neighbors.)<br /><br />I haven't drawn any special insights from this. &nbsp;I just think it's an interesting example of cultural transmission.<br /><br /><br /><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd><dd style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-right: 0px;"><br /></dd>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-91183991569321498392017-01-23T05:30:00.000-08:002017-01-23T05:30:14.909-08:00#95 Mulengro by Charles de Lint<i>Mulengro </i>(1985)&nbsp;is the fourth novel by Canadian author Charles de Lint (1951- &nbsp; &nbsp;). &nbsp;De Lint is a frequent World Fantasy and BFA nominee, and won the former in 2000 for his collection <i>Sweetgrass &amp; City Streets</i>. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gnsceUz0my4/V6EIEZrHj3I/AAAAAAAABkI/PML_cZUaRJwnILtriq5xx39xfbuIP2-ywCLcB/s1600/mulengro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gnsceUz0my4/V6EIEZrHj3I/AAAAAAAABkI/PML_cZUaRJwnILtriq5xx39xfbuIP2-ywCLcB/s400/mulengro.jpg" width="250" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover art by Fletcher Sibthorp<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></td></tr></tbody></table>As the cover notes, this is "a Romany tale," which is to say that the novel is largely based on gypsy lore and culture (which the author admits to not being an expert on, and, my own expertise being less than his, I really don't know enough to evaluate for accuracy). &nbsp;The main character is Janfri, a gypsy who lives among the gaje (i.e., non-gypsies) in Ottowa, whose house is burnt down by an unknown enemy. &nbsp;Meanwhile, another gyspy from Janfri's kumpania is murdered in a bizarre fashion, and the death is investigated by two policemen, Briggs and Sandler who don't have time for any of this magic nonsense. &nbsp;Neither of them actually say, "I'm getting to old for this shit," but I always felt that that would be the next line whenever they showed up. &nbsp;Anyway, many of the gypsies believe that the killer is a dark magician, bent on purifying the gypsies, who he feels have been tainted by modern society. Janfri is sent to find Ola, a young gypsy woman with great power who's the key to stopping the killer. &nbsp;And while Janfri is searching for Ola, the police and the killer are searching for him. <br /><div><br /></div><div>On the one hand, it's neat to see an urban crime mystery set in Canada, which we don't get much of. &nbsp;While the forays into Romany culture were often interesting, I was underwhelmed. &nbsp;As I said before, I don't know enough about gypsy culture to call anything out as wrong, but I couldn't help shake the feeling that the gypsy kumpania in <i>Mulengro</i>&nbsp;was very carefully crafted to be a template of gypsy social groups, kind of like the difference between a model house and a house people actually live in. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, <i>Mulengro </i>is an entertaining horror/urban fantasy/mystery novel, but I don't really see anything to set it apart from other books of the same type.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Just the stats:</div><div><br /></div><div>Published: Oct 1985 (Ace Books paperback edition), Canada</div><div><br /></div><div>Pages: 357</div><div><br /></div><div>Awards:<br /><br />Placed 12th for 1986 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel<br />Nominated for the 1986 Prix Aurora Award for Prix Casper - English<br /><br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "mulengro"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "afdc329e60bfd6a185bd411d0069c70f"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-34377457104600381982017-01-16T14:30:00.000-08:002017-01-16T14:30:29.450-08:00Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - David Cross #18<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Or, Star-Crossed Lovers</b></div><br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udeCpXX6GrQ/WHeqhKj_GNI/AAAAAAAABnA/7xcfdAtKGCkE4Dpt48mzbWOpND4fkbCBQCLcB/s1600/eternalsunshine.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-udeCpXX6GrQ/WHeqhKj_GNI/AAAAAAAABnA/7xcfdAtKGCkE4Dpt48mzbWOpND4fkbCBQCLcB/s400/eternalsunshine.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Director: Michel Gondry</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 108 minutes &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">I've seen <i>Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind </i>multiple times before. &nbsp;This is Michel Gondry's second feature film, and second time working with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (<i>Human Nature</i>&nbsp;(2001), both of whom won the Oscar for best original screenplay for this film. &nbsp;Kate Winslet received a best actress nomination, losing out to Hilary Swank in <i>Million Dollar Baby.</i>&nbsp;&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The film begins with Joel Barish (Jim Carey) ditching work to go to the beach in Montauk in the middle of winter. &nbsp;He's a tightly wound guy, not particularly communicative, and essentially the opposite of the talkative and artsy Clementine (Kate Winslet).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UdYz7fPybt8/WHewVHRlxKI/AAAAAAAABnQ/xUAhOEEVsTgnyZ0hEGYZBd8Ykuejz_n_ACLcB/s1600/eternalsunshinecharacters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UdYz7fPybt8/WHewVHRlxKI/AAAAAAAABnQ/xUAhOEEVsTgnyZ0hEGYZBd8Ykuejz_n_ACLcB/s320/eternalsunshinecharacters.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">&nbsp;&nbsp;They meet on the beach, and quickly fall for each other. &nbsp;We then cut to the relationship having fallen apart, and a heartbroken Joel running to his friends Rob and Carrie (David Cross and Jane Adams) for advice. &nbsp;Things get strange, his friends had received a letter from a medical clinic claiming that Clementine has had all memories of Joel erased. &nbsp;Joel drives to the clinic, and demands the same procedure. &nbsp;Most of the remaining movie either takes place in Joel's deteriorating memories or among the employees and technicians performing the memory wipe (played by Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo. &nbsp;(And on a sidenote, does anyone else realize how much of a weirdo Elijah Wood's characters tend to be? Not only in this movie, but in <a href="http://www.kahnscorner.com/2016/04/chain-of-fools-2000-david-cross-10.html"><i>Chain of Fools</i>,</a> where he plays a teenage hitman who just wants a friend, or <i>Sin City</i>, where he plays a cannibalistic serial killer.)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As I've mentioned before, I'm not a huge Jim Carey fan. He's fantastic at a style of humor that I don't particularly care for, which is really just a matter of taste, and probably why this is one of my top three Carey movies (along with <i>The Truman Show</i>&nbsp;and <i>Man on the Moon</i>).<br /><br /><i>Eternal Sunshine</i>&nbsp;takes a drama about the collapse of a relationship, and uses creative narrative techniques to turn it into an emotionally powerful tale about loss and the unavoidability and necessity of pain in any personal growth. &nbsp;It's a beautiful film.<br /><br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span> <br /><h3><b>The Cross Section:</b></h3><div><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VHIJNGsOJoM/WHosUZAEmHI/AAAAAAAABng/e2Y6YFEp6XotUtQuEPw4VgRj5NuolhQCQCLcB/s1600/Eternalsunshinecross.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VHIJNGsOJoM/WHosUZAEmHI/AAAAAAAABng/e2Y6YFEp6XotUtQuEPw4VgRj5NuolhQCQCLcB/s320/Eternalsunshinecross.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">David Cross plays Rob, a friend of Joel Barish. &nbsp;His longest scene is by the beginning of the film, after Joel and Clementine's breakup. &nbsp;We only get brief glimpses into his life and his presumably troubled relationship with his girlfriend (or wife? fiancee? &nbsp;It's never made clear). &nbsp;The character is a bit acerbic, but otherwise there's nothing that sticks out about him. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div><b><br /></b></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "247c5f730eb0850f014fafeadf0ef847"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-1699063105054809402016-12-12T02:56:00.000-08:002017-01-11T09:18:27.378-08:00Review: Old Man's War by John Scalzi (2005)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WZWTseWUXNw/WE59oens3CI/AAAAAAAABmk/9aAL55UKrb8xNGEfdu4iv9JLlwCkjCTLACLcB/s1600/old_mans_war_hc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WZWTseWUXNw/WE59oens3CI/AAAAAAAABmk/9aAL55UKrb8xNGEfdu4iv9JLlwCkjCTLACLcB/s320/old_mans_war_hc.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover art: Donato Giancola</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The bits I'd heard about Scalzi's Hugo nominated first novel suggested that it was your standard military scifi, with a twist: &nbsp;In this society, it's the elderly who are sent to war, not the young. &nbsp;This is a technically accurate description.<br /><br />In <i>Old Man's War</i>, humans, represented by the Colonial Union, are just one of the numerous species seeking to colonize the far reaches of space. &nbsp;Information from off-Earth is practically nil, and the CU isn't interested in sharing its technology, which is drastically superior to what's available on Earth. &nbsp;The only way to travel the stars is to be a colonist (an option only open to refugees from the parts of the world that were nuked in a somewhat recent war) or to join the Colonial Defense Forces as a senior citizen. &nbsp;Our protagonist, John Perry, does the latter. &nbsp;If you're wondering how a military with a minimum age of seventy-five is able to function, the answer is simple. &nbsp;Recruits' consciousnesses are quickly transferred to a souped-up clone of their younger selves (with a green chlorophyll tint and cat-like eyes, as well as enhanced strength, stamina, etc.). &nbsp;So, a couple chapters in, and the old guys ain't old anymore. &nbsp;They're still old on the inside, of course, though they could just as easily be forty or fifty as seventy-five.<br /><br />The one thing <i>Old Man's War </i>manages to do exceptionally well is walk the line between escapist shoot 'em up fantasy and "war, what is it good for?" &nbsp;The ethical considerations are present throughout, without themselves dominating the narrative.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Despite the novel premise, <i>Old Man's War </i>is a solid, but otherwise pretty run of the mill, military sf novel. &nbsp;If you're a fan of that sub-genre, you'll probably like it. &nbsp;If not, I'd recommend Joe Haldeman's <i>The Forever War </i>(1974) instead.<br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "old man's war"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "a9fdeb380e97a593fd1357b4709a8245"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-87362249579945936072016-11-17T10:00:00.000-08:002016-11-17T10:00:42.172-08:00"The Sum of His Many Squalid Parts"The recent political situation got me thinking about Thompson's masterpiece, <i>Fear and Loathing: on the Campaign Trail '72</i>, which led to remember my favorite bit of Thompson marginalia, the obituary he wrote for Rolling Stone on the occasion of Nixon's death. &nbsp;For those who aren't fans of Thompson's work, it should be pointed out that Thompson hated Nixon. &nbsp;I mean really hated the man, on an intensely personal and sincere level. &nbsp;The last line of the obituary reads:<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">"</span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;">By disgracing and degrading the Presidency of the United States, by fleeing the White House like a diseased cur, Richard Nixon broke the heart of the American Dream."</span><br /></span><br />And "diseased cur" may be one of the nicest things Thompson calls him. &nbsp;But besides the catharsis I find in this obituary, there's one moment that struck me as particularly relevant today.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">"Some people will say that words like&nbsp;</span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">scum</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><i style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">rotten</i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">&nbsp;are wrong for Objective Journalism -- which is true, but they miss the point. It was the built-in blind spots of the Objective rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into the White House in the first place...</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;">You had to get Subjective to see Nixon clearly, and the shock of recognition was often painful."</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Of course, one of the main problems today isn't objective journalism, rather the surge of pseudo-journalists and pundits. &nbsp;But the fact remains that the actual journalists, the ones that still put in the work and respect the responsibility that a free society demands of the press, dropped the ball,&nbsp;</span></span>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-91322049819182572322016-11-16T10:49:00.003-08:002016-11-16T10:49:27.096-08:00Vonnegut's Last (Published) StorySince Vonnegut's death in 2007, four volumes of unpublished work have been released, three of which are primarily or exclusively comprised of short stories. &nbsp;Fans of Vonnegut know that his last published short story appeared in 1972 in the second installment of Harlan Ellison's genre-defining <i>Dangerous Visions</i>&nbsp;anthology series. &nbsp;In his introduction to "The Big Space Fuck," Ellison claimed that it might be the last piece of fiction anyone would ever get from Vonnegut. &nbsp;At the time, Vonnegut was working on <i>Breakfast of Champions</i>, but claimed he was abandoning the project. Many reviewers and fans took <i>Breakfast of Champions</i>, published in 1973, as Vonnegut's declaration of retirement. &nbsp;While fans of Vonnegut know that he published seven more novels, and plenty of non-fiction, they also know that he never published another short story during his lifetime.<div><br /></div><div>Except for "Merlin."</div><div><br /></div><div>It was published in 1996, and appeared exclusively on the label of a specialty beer in Denver. &nbsp;(Making Chipotle's cups a couple decades late to the party.) &nbsp;This wouldn't be worth remarking on if it weren't for the fact that this was the only short story Vonnegut published for the last thirty-five years of his life. &nbsp;The best background on the beer (called Kurt's Mile High Malt) comes from sports columnist Woody Paige's<a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2007/04/12/my-muse-more-or-less/"> obituary of Vonnegut for the Denver Post.</a>&nbsp; The recipe is Vonnegut's grandfather's from before prohibition. &nbsp;And while it seems the beer <a href="https://untappd.com/b/wynkoop-brewing-co-kurt-s-mile-high-malt/338915">is being brewed again</a>, there's no indication that new bottles/cans include the story. <br /><br />As with the few other blog posts I've found about "Merlin," I'll end by requesting that anyone out there with the text of the story please send me a copy (or tell me where to find it).</div>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-52942195968074735352016-10-24T02:49:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:21:14.449-08:00The Devil and Daniel Webster (From Page to Screen to Screen)<b>The Story:</b><br /><b><br /></b> Stephen Vincent Benét, best known for <i>John Brown's Body</i>, had "The Devil and Daniel Webster" published in <i>The Saturday Evening Post </i>in 1936. &nbsp;The story is presented as an old New England folktale, about the time a down on his luck farmer, Jabez Stone, sold his soul to the devil for seven years good luck, only to regret his decision and ask Daniel Webster (the real life congressman and orator, often held to be one of, if not the, most eloquent and honest men to ever serve in the US government) to represent him and get him out of the contract. &nbsp;The devil agrees to a trial, stocks the jury with cutthroats and traitors from American history, and sets an unrepentant judge from the Salem witch trials to justice. &nbsp;Old Dan'l speaks all night and convinces the jury that a man's freedom is too valuable, and the sinners relent, giving Jabez Stone his life back. <br /><br />The story's themes of perseverance through tough times, and the resilience of the American people (especially farmers), would strike a special chord with audiences in the middle of the great depression. &nbsp;It's a wonderful story and you can read it <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602901h.html">here on Gutenburg Australia</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Films:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ELEo_Lzadjw/WAZS2EnubLI/AAAAAAAABlE/htRekFY4GBgIs4DsUC92sOFjBn6ndNM4wCLcB/s1600/All-That-Money-Can-Buy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ELEo_Lzadjw/WAZS2EnubLI/AAAAAAAABlE/htRekFY4GBgIs4DsUC92sOFjBn6ndNM4wCLcB/s400/All-That-Money-Can-Buy.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: William Dieterle</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 107 minutes</b></div><br /><br />The first film adaptation was released in 1941, with a screenplay co-written by Benét. &nbsp;The plot is much the same as the story, with some additions, most notably a seductive demon (at least that's what we're led to assume) that supplants Jabez's wife. &nbsp;There's more time devoted to the plight of poor farmers, and the corrupting influence of wealth is hammered down a bit more, in a way that may seem trite today. &nbsp;There's a lot of folksy New England humor, like when Jabez's Ma points out that "hard luck - well, we made New England out of it. &nbsp;That and codfish."<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6FxLm0YxKZc/WAZmW_nE3kI/AAAAAAAABlY/Hq2BMNUs3FMemtgiR6_Hr2G9E-Sn3RlWwCLcB/s1600/devil_daniel_webster_289_004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6FxLm0YxKZc/WAZmW_nE3kI/AAAAAAAABlY/Hq2BMNUs3FMemtgiR6_Hr2G9E-Sn3RlWwCLcB/s320/devil_daniel_webster_289_004.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jabez and Ma Stone</td></tr></tbody></table><br />While the entire cast ranges from adequate to great, the standout star of the film is Walter Huston (father of John Huston, Academy Award winner for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre), who plays the Devil, or Scratch, as he's often called in New England.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mr4u9dbFedI/WAZmbveaulI/AAAAAAAABlc/tYpgg1Jw1_gfPgEg68D1KODt9nxUCznJQCLcB/s1600/walterh1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mr4u9dbFedI/WAZmbveaulI/AAAAAAAABlc/tYpgg1Jw1_gfPgEg68D1KODt9nxUCznJQCLcB/s320/walterh1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, the scene I wanted to embed wasn't on Youtube, but if you have six minutes, watch Webster's speech to the damned.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bXfU2AaJDEQ/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bXfU2AaJDEQ?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>All That Money Can Buy </i>(which was titled as such to avoid confusion with <i>The Devil and Miss Jones</i>) was a flop at the box office, despite receiving an Academy Award for its score (which is great) and a best leading actor nomination for Huston. &nbsp;A restored version of the film was released in the 1990s, with the intended title, <i>The Devil and Daniel Webster</i>. &nbsp;While certain aspects have aged poorly, it's nonetheless a great film.</div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oth820b5000/WAZS10KleSI/AAAAAAAABlA/9JgVg0w19doQ9M4s5kE88MgBM_2NSrN1gCLcB/s1600/shortcuttohappiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oth820b5000/WAZS10KleSI/AAAAAAAABlA/9JgVg0w19doQ9M4s5kE88MgBM_2NSrN1gCLcB/s400/shortcuttohappiness.jpg" width="268" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Alec Baldwin</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 106 minutes</b></div><br /><br />The fact that Alec Baldwin used a pseudonym for his directorial credit should be a sign of how this 2003 film turned out. &nbsp;Baldwin (who also produced the film) stars as Jabez Stone, a down-on-his-luck writer in Manhattan with a bit of talent but no success. &nbsp;After a fantastically bad day in which he loses his job, is humiliated by a publisher (whose name is Daniel Webster, played by Anthony Hopkins), finds out a friend of his has sudden remarkable success (making him jealous), is mugged, and later kills an elderly woman by throwing a typewriter out a window, Stone is approached by the Devil, who is played by Jennifer Love Hewitt. &nbsp;She offers to give him ten years of success (and unkills the old lady) in exchange for his soul. &nbsp;Jabez agrees. &nbsp;As opposed to the original story and the 1941 film, in which the deal is made official by a contract signed in blood, Stone and the devil seal the deal by, well, <i>sealing the deal</i>.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsXOk_P50b0/WAZsjtWnWuI/AAAAAAAABls/veA_i5Xe4rYeGHp8R7d_r8VcRxtDuFJ8ACLcB/s1600/shortcutto%2Bhappiness.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsXOk_P50b0/WAZsjtWnWuI/AAAAAAAABls/veA_i5Xe4rYeGHp8R7d_r8VcRxtDuFJ8ACLcB/s320/shortcutto%2Bhappiness.PNG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">fig. 1.1 Contract Law</td></tr></tbody></table><br />The first half hour or so of the movie works pretty well, but things quickly devolve from their. &nbsp;This may be the most over-edited movie I've ever seen. &nbsp;Nearly every other scene ends with either an iris in/out or with tonally inappropriate wipes, as well as an inexplicable frequent use of slow motion shots, which don't make things more dramatic, as the editor intended, but merely more baffling. <br /><br />This film has a great supporting cast, including Anthony Hopkins, Dan Ackroyd, and Amy Poehler, although the latter two never get much chance to prove how funny they can be. &nbsp;Like in the original story, Jabez ends up regretting his deal, and enlists the help of Daniel Webster. &nbsp;The Webster in this case has no connection to the historical figure. &nbsp;He's just a publisher named Daniel Webster who happens to have considerable experience in suing the devil. &nbsp;The courtroom scene is a real mess, with Webster using at least a few different defenses, and no real emotional power like the 1941 version. &nbsp;Hewitt's devil isn't sure whether to be menacing, erotic, or inscrutable, making the performance none of the above (although this isn't Hewitt's fault. &nbsp;There's only so much she could have done with the script). One point that bugs me deals with the jury in this case. &nbsp;Stone has become a massively successful author, though one that's critically panned. &nbsp;The jury, rather than traitors and scoundrels, is composed of authors. &nbsp;Only four are named, though many are identifiable by appearance (e.g. Woolf and Joyce). &nbsp;The four named authors are Truman Capote, Jacqueline Susanne, Ernest Hemingway, and Mario Puzo. &nbsp;Susann and Puzo are best known for writing books that were massively successful but critically panned, so putting them on the jury doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. &nbsp;Anyway, Webster and Stone win the case, and time is reversed to before the deal is made.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Get your own copy"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "the devil and daniel webster"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "e91182e3178ff60dae5c3acc93f13d40"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-83700793388350061252016-06-27T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:22:42.523-08:00Men in Black II (2002) - David Cross #17<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vXU0ApU70Xs/V2mBeuCW_tI/AAAAAAAABi0/WvYJIxuoKpYzaLvzS3zDnVejZ3IXM5d1QCLcB/s1600/miib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vXU0ApU70Xs/V2mBeuCW_tI/AAAAAAAABi0/WvYJIxuoKpYzaLvzS3zDnVejZ3IXM5d1QCLcB/s320/miib.jpg" width="220" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Barry Sonnenfeld</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 88 Minutes &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Everyone remembers the 1997 modern classic, <i><a href="http://www.kahnscorner.com/2016/02/men-in-black-1997-david-cross-5.html">Men in Black</a></i>. &nbsp;It ends with agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) asking agent J (Will Smith) to erase K's memory, so he can retire and lead a normal life. &nbsp;The first act of MIB 2 is mostly about undoing the ending of the first film. &nbsp;The movie opens with exposition via a public access quality conspiracy tv show, explaining that an evil Kylothian named Serleena (Lara Flynn Boyle) wants to steal the light of Zartha. &nbsp;It turns out the light is still on earth, and only K knows its location. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are a lot of problems with this movie, especially the over reliance on comedic relief characters. &nbsp;Remember Frank the pug from the first movie, and how funny that one scene with him was? &nbsp;One scene is really all that you can stand. &nbsp;Likewise the worms, and the two-headed Johnny Knoxville.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3bphoN-qHRo/V2mFch8eesI/AAAAAAAABjI/oYY_d14uluU4Ws4xyXhzTidnMh473ObuwCLcB/s1600/men-in-black-ii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3bphoN-qHRo/V2mFch8eesI/AAAAAAAABjI/oYY_d14uluU4Ws4xyXhzTidnMh473ObuwCLcB/s320/men-in-black-ii.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Insert your own "pair of boobs" joke here</td></tr></tbody></table>Also, the product placement is far from subtle.<br /><div><br /></div><div>All that said, <i>Men in Black 2</i>&nbsp;isn't really <i>that</i>&nbsp;bad. &nbsp;I mean, it's pretty bad, but it's not as much of a trainwreck as I remember it being. &nbsp;I was worried that it would be unwatchable, but much of it is entertaining. &nbsp;It's a big decline in quality from the first film, but not a completely irredeemable one.<br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Rating:&nbsp;</b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span> <span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span> <br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>The Cross Section:</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">David Cross plays Newton, the conspiracy minded nerd who runs a video rental store and lives with his mom. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SvpSKgFVySA/V2sAsOVGxvI/AAAAAAAABjg/eZVN5cLbrjMN7IQzceNCsWhTY6z4ElxlQCLcB/s1600/cross%2Bmiib.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SvpSKgFVySA/V2sAsOVGxvI/AAAAAAAABjg/eZVN5cLbrjMN7IQzceNCsWhTY6z4ElxlQCLcB/s320/cross%2Bmiib.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is actually one of the funniest scenes in the movie, which unfortunately does not appear by itself on youtube.</div></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "men in black II"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "df5601da59dceba0a31d67951c52c449"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-39701735565404486352016-06-25T10:52:00.000-07:002016-06-25T10:52:22.850-07:00There are plenty of reasons why such a large portion of all discussion on the internet is nothing more than vacuous bullshit, rote recitation of talking points, and "witty" insults. &nbsp;There's the fact that the people who feel the need to make every conversation about their pet interest tend to have the least nuanced understanding of that interest, and the least tact. &nbsp;There's the fact that, because anyone can (and feels compelled to) chime in, any specific issue turns into an us vs. them referendum on a major socio-political issue, even if that issue was only tangential to the original point. &nbsp;But those of us who are annoyed by this can't stop other people from spending more time complaining about something than actually learning about it. &nbsp;(I've watched people spend hours arguing about intellectual property law, with arguments that entirely depend upon not having even a surface understanding of the difference between copyright and trademark.) &nbsp;But there is a mindset we all too easily slip into, one that exacerbates the situation. &nbsp;Basically, we treat any internet discussion not as a discussion, but as debate club.<br /><br />Why is this a problem? &nbsp;Well, how do you win a debate club debate? &nbsp;The entire purpose of the debate is to convince a third party that your side is right, even if you don't believe your own arguments. &nbsp;At best, it's organized sophistry.&nbsp;The goal is not to engage with the person you're debating, but to demonstrate to the spectators how wrong he is. &nbsp; I see too many people I know repost or share things whose message I agree with, but which contain utter bull, who mistake clever one-liners for serious rebuttals of complex opinions, who, in short, focus more on convincing people they are right than arguing in good faith. &nbsp;Not only is this exasperating, it's also counter-effective.<br /><br />First we need to honestly appraise what our purpose is in any online argument. &nbsp;Is the goal to put forth clearly our point of view? To convince the person we're arguing with? &nbsp;To convince the spectators of the argument that we're right? &nbsp;And then we must ask "Is this the best way to do this?" &nbsp;The answer to the latter is usually "no."<br /><br />One thing that we need to acknowledge is that every group sees itself as not only correct, but as being attacked by social and political forces. &nbsp;Whether or not this is true is beside the point, but whether we're talking about atheists or fundamentalists, pro-choice or pro-life, conspiracy theorists, laissez-faire capitalists or socialists, civil rights activists or hate groups, all see themselves as fighting against a larger tide. &nbsp;What I'm about to recommend should be understood to apply only to online interaction, and to have an exception for public figures. <br /><br />&nbsp; There's a quote I like from Browne's <i>Religio Medici</i>&nbsp;that is relevant here: "[W]here wee desire to be informed, 'tis good to contest with men above ourselves; but to confirme and establish our opinions, 'tis best to argue with judgments below our own, that the frequent spoyles and victories over their reasons may settle in our selves an esteeme, and confirmed opinion of our own." &nbsp;It feels good to argue against people who are clearly half-wits. &nbsp;But does it do any good? &nbsp;Generally speaking, responses &nbsp;that are hostile or condescending or contemptuous are going to have the opposite of the effect that you want. &nbsp;If the point is to persuade people to your way of thinking, does tearing down people who have no interest in the truth accomplish anything?<br /><br />I should clarify that last statement. &nbsp;When I say "no interest in the truth," I don't mean anyone who disagrees with you. &nbsp;Different positions on a lot of major issues boil down to a difference of priorities, or an honest disagreement over an ethical point. &nbsp;It's entirely possible, and common, for people to look at the same set of data, consider it honestly and with an open-mind, and come to different conclusions. &nbsp;People who have "no interest in the truth" are disingenuous and they make no attempt to &nbsp;even understand the position of those they disagree with. &nbsp;I'll give two common examples:<br /><br />If humans evolved from apes, why are there still apes? &nbsp;Checkmate, Atheists.<br /><br />If god knows everything that's going to happen, then there can't be free will. &nbsp;Checkmate, Christians.<br /><br /><br />Both of these are disingenuous, because spending five minutes looking for an answer would show that the other side has actually thought about this. (Says the atheist who quoted Thomas Browne a couple paragraphs ago.) &nbsp;All this is to get to the point that arguing with people who are disingenuous does more harm than good. &nbsp;It's not going to convince the person you're arguing with. &nbsp;If they actually cared about understanding opposing opinions, they wouldn't be disingenuous. &nbsp;But who watching this is going to be convinced? &nbsp;There's an adage I like, "Never argue with an idiot. &nbsp;He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience." &nbsp;People who agree with the idiot won't change their minds, because they've either heard what you have to say or don't care to find out. &nbsp;At best, you'll bat .500 with people who are on the fence. &nbsp;These, after all, are the people we're trying to convince, right? &nbsp;If you're hostile, or condescending, etc., you'll lose a lot of them right away, especially if you're on a site that primarily caters to the position you're against. &nbsp;This goes back to the sense of victimization that every group has, deserved or not. &nbsp;People on the fence, especially in fringe communities like conspiracy theorists or MRAs, tend to join these groups in large part for the sense of community. &nbsp;They feel like outcasts, and they may not agree with everything these communities claim, but anything that they regard as an attack will lead them to close ranks. &nbsp;Attacking makes people defensive, including people on the fence. <br /><br />Those who are disingenuous, or delusional, will have a response for any claim you make, regardless of how well-phrased and well-researched it is. &nbsp;Research and clarity hold no sway, so you either have to disengage (e.g., they think they won because they got the last word) or allow yourself to be dragged down to their level, where they will beat you with experience. &nbsp;So what, then, is the proper response? &nbsp;Silence. &nbsp;The approach of making other groups look foolish, to bring them down with ridicule, only serves to push people away from the center, to increase an us vs. them mentality. &nbsp;Responding to a disingenuous and intentionally provocative comment, post, tweet, etc. doesn't help. &nbsp;Spending hundreds or thousands of words explaining why the second law of thermodynamics doesn't disprove evolution won't do anything, because the only people who believe that are the ones who don't have a desire to actually understand it, and further, it gives credence to the disingenuous person because it seems like there's actually an argument to be had.<br /><br />If a person makes a facebook status and no one comments, if no one retweets or shares, if a reddit comment is downvoted with no responses, this is more damning than any amount of criticism and argument. &nbsp;What we must do, to improve the state of public discourse, is condemn dishonest argument, condemn disingenuousness, and refuse to be dragged down to the level of idiots. This includes people on our own side. &nbsp;While none of us want to be "that guy," there are people on Facebook that I can go to and say, "I agree with the sentiment of that infographic you shared, but the facts are wrong." &nbsp;Posting stuff like this, as funny and satisfying as it may be, only serves to misinform the people we agree with, and diminish our credibility with people who aren't on our side. The only people that this will convince are people who don't bother with fact checking or critical thought, and who will be drawn back to the other side by something equally dishonest. <br /><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-89322686420717264402016-06-23T18:51:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:25:02.803-08:00Review: Tree of Smoke (2007) by Denis Johnson <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLge0SKLtP8/V2yRbf1-XBI/AAAAAAAABjw/00m77nKJUaYJA6epMGf7kXVfYWl7thQSACLcB/s1600/TreeOfSmoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLge0SKLtP8/V2yRbf1-XBI/AAAAAAAABjw/00m77nKJUaYJA6epMGf7kXVfYWl7thQSACLcB/s320/TreeOfSmoke.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">cover design: Susan Mitchell</td></tr></tbody></table><i><br /></i> <i><br /></i> <i>Tree of Smoke </i>is Johnson's seventh novel, focused mainly on the CIA in Vietnam from 1963-1970. &nbsp;One of the protagonists, Bill Houston, was the main character of Johnon's first novel, <i>Angels. &nbsp;</i>The focus shifts between a cast of characters, Bill Houston, a disgraced sailor, his brother, James, a recon soldier and later tunnel rat, Nguyen Hao, a south Vietnamese citizen trying to make his way to the US, and others ranging from a missionary's widow to a West German assassin. &nbsp;But mostly we get the story of William "Skip" Sands, nephew of the larger than life Colonel Francis Xavier Sands, who's more affected by Agency infighting than the viet cong. <br /><br />The only other books of Johnson's I've read are <i>Train Dreams </i>(2012)<i>&nbsp;</i>and <i>Jesus' Son </i>(1992), the longer of which is about a quarter of the length of <i>Tree of Smoke</i>, which honestly didn't work very well to the book's advantage, as there were points where it dragged. &nbsp;The language is often wonderful, although the dialogue varies from Hemingway-an to bad Tarantino impression. &nbsp;If I had to say what the point of the book is, or rather what holds the whole thing together, the answer would be myth. &nbsp;As Colonel Sands explains how Psy Ops is going to win the war: "This land is their myth. &nbsp;We penetrate the land, we penetrate their heart, their myth, their soul. &nbsp;That's real infiltration. &nbsp;And that's our mission: penetrating the myth of the land." But of course one cannot infiltrate another land and remain unchanged, and the characters' own mythologies, noble wars and christian evangelism and American exceptionalism, are all eroded as the characters become part of the land they've infiltrated. <br /><br />While I prefer <i>Jesus' Son </i>and <i>Train Dreams</i>, <i>Tree of Smoke </i>is worth a read.<br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "tree of smoke"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d1e796f3ef3df8116d9867c6d76eee70"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-58064214954799615082016-06-18T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:26:29.857-08:00Martin & Orloff (2002) - David Cross #16<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FJY0tzS9bxc/V1eNn4NTqoI/AAAAAAAABh4/Dm7SONLFHlMachdh1xZBeeLLDFQJp5-cwCLcB/s1600/martin_orloff_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FJY0tzS9bxc/V1eNn4NTqoI/AAAAAAAABh4/Dm7SONLFHlMachdh1xZBeeLLDFQJp5-cwCLcB/s400/martin_orloff_poster.jpg" width="257" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Lawrence Blume</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 87 minutes &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><br />Martin Flam (Ian Roberts), a man who designs food costumes for corporate promotional events, tried to kill himself. &nbsp;He's required to start seeing Dr. Eric Orloff (Matt Walsh, <i>Veep</i>), who drags Martin into his own dysfunctional world. &nbsp;Their first session begins with Orloff dragging Martin to his amateur softball league, where everyone gets arrested after a fight breaks out. &nbsp;Now Martin not only has to deal with the crushing guilt of designing costumes that are dangerous to wear (it turns out eyeholes are important in a costume), but Martin's best friend (a volatile Gulf War vet played by H. Jon Benjamin), Martin's stripper/psych grad student girlfriend (Kim Raver, <i>24</i>), a new love interest (Amy Poehler) and her jealous and violent ex-NFL ex-boyfriend. <br /><br />As the poster indicates, the cast is predominately members of the Upright Citizens Brigade, with a brief cameo by Tina Fey and Janeane Garofalo. &nbsp;Beside Martin's straight-man, I don't know if there's any character that couldn't be described as wacky. &nbsp;Fortunately, the cast is talented enough to pull it off.<br /><br />On a side note, the movie's <a href="http://www.martinandorloff.com/">promotional website</a> is still up, and it absolutely looks like a website made in 2002. &nbsp;The weird thing, though, is that the cast and filmmaker bios have been updated, some as recently as 2012, which makes me wonder who, ten years after the movie was released, went back into the website to make sure the info was up to date.<br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /><b>The Cross Section:</b><br /><b><br /></b> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EOixyWocLk/V2Ni8fiuQhI/AAAAAAAABiY/gyYtqAVLY8Ug9WzjvbPwlFFAIvNoC73CQCLcB/s1600/cross_orloff.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3EOixyWocLk/V2Ni8fiuQhI/AAAAAAAABiY/gyYtqAVLY8Ug9WzjvbPwlFFAIvNoC73CQCLcB/s320/cross_orloff.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Character/Performance:</b><br /><b><br /></b> David Cross plays Dan Wasserman, a flamboyant, terrible playwright, who wants Orloff's praise for his play that premiered at a dinner-and-a-show restaurant. &nbsp;While pretty funny, the character's only trait is his flamboyance, which is only good for so many jokes. <br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /><b>Screentime:</b><br /><b><br /></b> There's a brief scene in the middle of the movie, and Cross joins the ensemble of supporting characters who team up at the end to save the day.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /><br /><b><br /></b><br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "martin and orloff"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "cec38bc9ac4ecff55fbda944be2c145d"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-56623501969081413872016-05-30T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:28:23.335-08:00Run, Ronnie, Run (2002) - David Cross #15<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Omn2oT6SB6A/VzZWSLprQRI/AAAAAAAABgo/1Wo8L7NRrKs5Ng71tcDQsfqyfGJc2PuyQCLcB/s1600/run_ronnie_run.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Omn2oT6SB6A/VzZWSLprQRI/AAAAAAAABgo/1Wo8L7NRrKs5Ng71tcDQsfqyfGJc2PuyQCLcB/s400/run_ronnie_run.jpg" width="280" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Troy Miller</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 86 minutes&nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is it people, David Cross's time to shine as a leading man. &nbsp;This actually isn't the first time Cross has played the titular Ronnie Dobbs, as he was a recurring character on Cross and Odenkirk's HBO sketch series, Mr. Show (1995-1998). The sketch show origin of the character makes itself felt, as numerous brief sketches are interlaced throughout the film. &nbsp;In fact, the film starts with two sketches, the first a cartoon parodying the famous "Let's All Go the Lobby" bit, where everything, including the toilets, are smiling and anthropomorphic.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vXNwoylHUUc/V0d7VcjT7jI/AAAAAAAABhE/2TuxxRLVT60MFjcSRQNDczRQ-vKpq6UcgCLcB/s1600/ronnie_bathroom1.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vXNwoylHUUc/V0d7VcjT7jI/AAAAAAAABhE/2TuxxRLVT60MFjcSRQNDczRQ-vKpq6UcgCLcB/s400/ronnie_bathroom1.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The film is then introduced by the "film valedictorian of Hollywood," who later interrupts the film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We meet Ronnie, a southern redneck who wants to get back together with Tammy (Jill Talley), his ex-wife and the mother of his children (named Little Ronnie, Middle Ronnie, and Little Middle Ronnie). &nbsp;But he ends up getting arrested on an episode of FUZZ (basically COPS), leading Tammy to reject him. &nbsp;Meanwhile, struggling Hollywood producer Terry Twillstein (Bob Odenkirk) discovers that Ronnie has been arrested on FUZZ numerous times, in fact, Ronnie has a unique talent for getting arrested wherever he goes. &nbsp;So Twillstein goes to Ronnie's hometown, and makes a deal with the Sheriff and soon-to-be Governor (M. C. Gainey), to release Ronnie into his custody in exchange for promising that Ronnie will never return to the state. &nbsp;From here we have the rise and fall of a celebrity narrative, frequently interlaced with sketches, ranging from a scene from a Survivor parody to a music video by Cross and Odenkirk's Mr. Show R&amp;B group, Three Times One Minus One:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UF7DQY6_v1A/V0eBM-YkDtI/AAAAAAAABhc/xlZUAL_4-GkuguCfHO2K0IUX3D-GYpTcwCLcB/s1600/ronnie%2Brb.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="231" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UF7DQY6_v1A/V0eBM-YkDtI/AAAAAAAABhc/xlZUAL_4-GkuguCfHO2K0IUX3D-GYpTcwCLcB/s400/ronnie%2Brb.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As much as I enjoyed this movie, it's become a bit dated. &nbsp;When this came out, reality TV as we know it was in its infancy, with only a couple competition shows (most notably Survivor, which gets parodied more than once in <i>Run Ronnie Run</i>) having large audiences. &nbsp;The idea of an entire tv series based around one person doing stupid things was just a funny concept, as opposed to an accurate description of numerous popular programs. &nbsp;A lot of content that was original in 2002 has become so overdone in the last decade and a half that it loses some of its humor.</div><br />That said, the movie is a lot of fun, especially if you're a fan of Mr. Show. &nbsp;There are cameos by Jack Black and Jeff Goldblum, and appearances by all the Mr. Show regulars. &nbsp;In addition to a number of actual sketches, much of the movie is structured like a sketch show, with a lot of scenes being somewhat self-contained like the new age therapy session:<br /><div style="text-align: center;">\<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WEjQfZtzXLE/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WEjQfZtzXLE?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So if you like good 90s sketch comedy, give&nbsp;<i>Run Ronnie Run&nbsp;</i>a watch.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Cross Section</b>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This doesn't really apply, as this is probably the only film where Cross is the lead actor. &nbsp;He plays Ronnie Dobbs for the most part, as well as brief stints as other characters (like the R &amp; B singer in the above picture). &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Character:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Screentime:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "run ronnie run"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "60441863ba064770dbf82a1bb1787032"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br /><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-12872877415035478982016-05-15T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:30:28.165-08:00Scary Movie 2 (2001) - David Cross #14<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ljk8KZMUgeY/VzYGO5IKI4I/AAAAAAAABfw/mllf-Ui5wDwmXX77SIeRbVoCxZWWRiuHACLcB/s1600/scary_movie_two_ver1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ljk8KZMUgeY/VzYGO5IKI4I/AAAAAAAABfw/mllf-Ui5wDwmXX77SIeRbVoCxZWWRiuHACLcB/s400/scary_movie_two_ver1.jpg" width="255" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Keenen Wayans</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 83 minutes &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a teenager I watched the first four Scary Movie installments, and I remember thinking that <i>Scary Movie 2 </i>was the worst of the lot. &nbsp;Rottentomatoes suggests I'm not alone in this judgment. (The first four films are rated 53%, 15%, 36%, and 37%, respectively.) &nbsp;The first <i>Scary Movie </i>(2000) brought the genre spoof back into the limelight. &nbsp;While of course genre spoofs existed before (and perhaps hit their zenith with <i>Airplane! </i>(1980)) the modern terrible genre spoofs, from <i>Not Another Date Movie </i>(2001) to <i>Meet the Spartans </i>(2008) owe their existence to the massive financial success of the first installment of the <i>Scary Movie </i>franchise. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The sequel has some of the characters reprising their roles from the first film, which mostly parodied <i>I Know What You Did Last Summer </i>(1997)&nbsp;and <i>Scream </i>(1996). &nbsp;Anna Faris plays Cindy, Regina Hall plays Brenda, Marlon Wayans is Shorty and Shawn Wayans is Ray. &nbsp;This film is largely based on 1999's <i>The Haunting</i>, which was a remake of the 1963 film, which was itself based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel, <i>The Haunting of Hill House</i>. &nbsp;Anyway, the aforementioned characters, along with a few newcomers (Kathleen Robertson, Tori Spelling, and <i>Malcolm in the Middle</i>'s Christopher Masterson), are college students tricked into helping summon the spirits at a haunted house by the pervy Professor (Tim Curry) and his assistant Dwight (David Cross). &nbsp;Obviously, shit gets out of hand. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What makes this installment so much worse than the others? &nbsp;Well, most of the jokes aren't jokes. &nbsp;There are a couple scenes with an obscene parrot that don't work at all, because what the parrot is saying isn't funny. &nbsp;Jokes about weed can be funny, but instead we're expected to laugh because weed is being mentioned. &nbsp;The creepy butler's gross deformed hand is good for a joke or two, but not for gags that last several minutes. &nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N6TjgWBHH6o/VzYNR_0w1LI/AAAAAAAABgM/fxaoTnklWqs9RHF48Gt4A0lluOWzK3jBwCLcB/s1600/Scary-Movie-2-images-8d822d1e-ab39-4892-b4d6-30a395472e2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-N6TjgWBHH6o/VzYNR_0w1LI/AAAAAAAABgM/fxaoTnklWqs9RHF48Gt4A0lluOWzK3jBwCLcB/s320/Scary-Movie-2-images-8d822d1e-ab39-4892-b4d6-30a395472e2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have no problem with dumb humor, but there needs to actually be humor in it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If you want a fun movie that you don't have to take seriously, some of the movies in this franchise are good for that. &nbsp;But not this one.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Cross Section:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBhqu_qDHOg/VzYNOLpfxNI/AAAAAAAABgI/WLVNABJhADsp5stGKyx3SMfWRWWjs8DmACKgB/s1600/scary_movie_cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oBhqu_qDHOg/VzYNOLpfxNI/AAAAAAAABgI/WLVNABJhADsp5stGKyx3SMfWRWWjs8DmACKgB/s320/scary_movie_cross.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Character:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">David Cross plays Dwight, the Professor's assistant. &nbsp;While the professor is concerned about making sure there are enough cameras in the sexy co-eds' bedrooms, Dwight is pretty serious about proving the existence of the supernatural. &nbsp;He's wheelchair bound, but determined not to let that slow him down. Whether it's passing out papers or being fellated, he always refuses offers of help by declaring "I can do it myself!" &nbsp;The character is surprisingly fun, and Cross delivers a good character performance.</div><br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Screentime:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span> <br /><div style="text-align: left;">Cross gets a good amount of screentime as part of the ensemble cast.</div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "scary movie 2"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "796660eaaeba00c4a344ec56706bd3ef"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-44279327890241804682016-05-02T08:49:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:32:13.511-08:00Pootie Tang (2001) - David Cross #13<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GguMcoKNk4/Vxz-c5Ss9VI/AAAAAAAABfA/RHAiZdVjfm0vxF-srtBgBG72J-dkOZwCwCLcB/s1600/pootie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3GguMcoKNk4/Vxz-c5Ss9VI/AAAAAAAABfA/RHAiZdVjfm0vxF-srtBgBG72J-dkOZwCwCLcB/s400/pootie.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Louis C. K.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 81 minutes</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Pootie Tang </i>is based on a sketch from the Chris Rock show, a parody of blaxploitation films, starring the eponymous Pootie (Lance Crouther), an actor, musician, and role model for all children, who fights crime with the power of his daddy's belt which can "whoop anyone's ass." Pootie, who was born too cool for words and speaks in a bizarre slang of his own making, has made an enemy of corporate America, especially LecterCorp CEO Dick Lecter (Richard Vaughn) who plots to steal Pootie's belt and turn Pootie into a shill for LecterCorp's products. &nbsp;With the help of his friends (including characters played by Chris Rock and Wanda Sykes) Pootie must fight off Lecter and his henchmen, (including future <i>The Wire</i>&nbsp;star&nbsp;J.D. Williams).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Pootie Tang</i>'s reputation precedes it, and rightly so. &nbsp;The pacing was all over the place, the plot jumped around haphazardly, characters appear and disappear without warning. &nbsp;Which would seem odd, considering that the movie was written and directed by none other than Louis "Louie" C. K. &nbsp;But as Louie has explained in <a href="http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/interviews/a10009/louis-ck-interview-0611/">interviews</a>, he was removed from the project in the editing stage and had no say over the final product. &nbsp;Yet the final product is still bizarrely fascinating. &nbsp;The film has a cult following and much of it seems like something that could be made for Adult Swim. &nbsp;The film isn't so bad it's good, because there were too many talented people working on it at some point or other. &nbsp;Rather, it's so dumb that it completely removes itself from comparison to other films. &nbsp;I can completely understand someone hating this movie, but it's strangely engrossing. That said, I still give it one star, because it is a <i>very </i>stupid movie, whose particular brand of stupidity happens to resonate with me.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>The Cross Section:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">David Cross plays Dennis:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fR27TWqqv_8/Vx0G01oomFI/AAAAAAAABfQ/NHw51imR5NYggVWNC62w3MeUfIY2uLB_QCLcB/s1600/pootie_cross2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fR27TWqqv_8/Vx0G01oomFI/AAAAAAAABfQ/NHw51imR5NYggVWNC62w3MeUfIY2uLB_QCLcB/s400/pootie_cross2.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dennis is one of the actors hired by Dick Lecter as part of his plan to co-opt Pootie's fame and influence by producing his own legion of Pootie Tangs. &nbsp;He shows up twice in the film, once as part of a training video for prospective Pooties, and again at the opening of the flagship Pootie Burger. &nbsp;This is a great character for Cross, a nerdy white wannabe actor trying to play a guy who's too cool for words. &nbsp;I can't help but imagine the blackface scene from <i>Silver Streak </i>as his origin story.</div><br /><br /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Screentime:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cross has one brief appearance and one solid scene. &nbsp;People have won Oscars with less screentime.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Character:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "pootie tang"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "f0926f34da4c92ac7ebbbdc811c01a83"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-22264351893585010342016-04-25T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:33:36.728-08:00Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) - David Cross #12<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GgYNze51rPY/VxuxB52GowI/AAAAAAAABeY/HUm4hordocI0LWmk-efFEUao4IxS9JjFACLcB/s1600/dolittle_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GgYNze51rPY/VxuxB52GowI/AAAAAAAABeY/HUm4hordocI0LWmk-efFEUao4IxS9JjFACLcB/s400/dolittle_poster.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Steve Carr</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 87 minutes</b></div><br />In case you forgot, back in 1998, when Murphy was in decline and starting to do kids movies (he voiced Mushu in Mulan in 1998, and would play Donkey in Shrek a couple years later), Murphy starred in the modern update of <i>Doctor Dolittle</i>&nbsp;(based on Hugh Lofting's series of children's stories from the 1920s, as well as a 1967 musical film starring Rex Harrison). &nbsp;The movie received mixed reviews but made a crapload of money. (It was the eighth highest worldwide grossing film of 1998, right between <i>Mulan</i>&nbsp;and <i>Shakespeare in Love.</i>) &nbsp;So, of course, it got a sequel. &nbsp;Interesting point to note, the 1998 film was rated PG-13, while the sequel was rated PG. <br /><br />In the sequel, Dolittle is world famous, as we're told through a series of brief gags narrated by the family dog, Lucky (Norm MacDonald, who made the wise choice to remain uncredited). &nbsp;This narration continues throughout the film, despite usually providing no information beside describing what's happening onscreen, like a film for the blind. &nbsp;Dolittle comes home from a world tour to his wife and daughters, just in time for his oldest daughter's sixteenth birthday. &nbsp;Charisse (Raven-Symoné) is more interested in seeing her boyfriend, of whom the doctor <i>does not</i>&nbsp;approve, than having a birthday dinner with her family who are just <i>soooo </i>embarrassing. &nbsp; We also here start getting the first of terrible attempts at jokes for the parents. &nbsp;Dolittle got his younger daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt, who stars in the direct to video sequels because holy shit there are three more of these goddamned movies) a chameleon from Mexico, who is extremely overconfident about his ability to change color. &nbsp;In his extremely thick Mexican accent he talks about how he's going to disappear just "like the baby daddy." &nbsp;This is just the first in a film long series of jokes that the kids won't get and the parents would roll their eyes at.<br /><br />Anyway, the plot gets moving when a mafia raccoon and opossum have Dolittle go see The Beaver, in an annoying parody of mob films (the filmmakers seem to think that any premise is funny if it's followed by the phrase "but they're animals"), who requests a favor from the doctor: &nbsp;a logging company is destroying the forest and he needs the doctor's help. &nbsp;Dolittle is moved by the destruction and agrees. &nbsp;Long story short, the doctor discovers that there is a single female of an endangered species of bear in the forest. &nbsp;He finds a circus bear of the same species, and gets a court injunction to prevent logging while he sees if he can get the bears to mate. &nbsp;Obviously, the circus bear, Archie (Steve Zahn, from <a href="http://www.kahnscorner.com/2016/04/chain-of-fools-2000-david-cross-10.html">Chain of Fools</a>) is woefully unprepared to live in the wild. &nbsp;When he first sees the female bear, Ava (Lisa Kudrow), by the river, he remarks that he'd "like to see her wet." &nbsp;Once again, pointless for the kids, and rather creepy for the adults.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I4h7G8CZuh8/Vxu7bBp6LmI/AAAAAAAABeo/8PuzgDdrE8wKZpzkUs6bl2M9_JiX2hgwgCLcB/s1600/dolittle_archie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-I4h7G8CZuh8/Vxu7bBp6LmI/AAAAAAAABeo/8PuzgDdrE8wKZpzkUs6bl2M9_JiX2hgwgCLcB/s400/dolittle_archie.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Archie and Dolittle</td></tr></tbody></table>Of course, the evil lumber mill owners play dirty and almost win, but Dolittle convinces the animals to fight back, as the animals of the world go on strike, refusing to race or perform or even behave. &nbsp;The mill owners relent, Dolittle and his daughter grow closer, and Archie and Ava make little cubs. &nbsp;(This, of course, leads to a couple other questions, as Archie has one son and one daughter, who are, besides himself and Ava, the only two members of his species in the forest.)<br /><br />I'm confused as to why, when going from a PG-13 movie to a PG sequel, they choose a plot entirely about Dr. Dolittle trying to help a bear get laid. &nbsp;Of all the plots that could have been used, this one seems among the least fitting for the audience being aimed at, and it affects the final product as all the underlying sex jokes are made to go over the kids' heads, but are still unfunny.<br /><div><br /></div><div>If you're between the ages of eight and twelve, this movie will be a lot of fun because there's a bear who likes to say the word "butt" a lot, and farts sometimes. &nbsp;If that doesn't sound like the highest form of humor, then you'll probably want to stay clear.<br /><div><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Rating:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Cross Section:</span></b><br /><br />David Cross is credited as "Dog/Animal Groupie #2." &nbsp;There are a couple dogs it could have been, but they each have one line and speak in a silly voice. &nbsp;I'm not at all sure what "Animal Groupie" refers to. &nbsp;So, basically, there's no notable character, and a matter of a couple seconds of screentime.<br /><b><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></b> <b><span style="font-size: large;">&nbsp;Character:</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div></div><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "dr. dolittle 2"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d7f4d8eb47fb7bdda81fe290d6749b1e"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-36773201936171548412016-04-14T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:34:25.726-08:00Ghost World (2001) - David Cross #11<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bfqjUE-G1JA/VwrMlEXDH3I/AAAAAAAABd4/ePbZP0uhVBUuA9K_BDawWEGbWQK-tgg-Q/s1600/ghostworld_poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bfqjUE-G1JA/VwrMlEXDH3I/AAAAAAAABd4/ePbZP0uhVBUuA9K_BDawWEGbWQK-tgg-Q/s400/ghostworld_poster.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Director: Terry Zwigoff</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 111 minutes &nbsp;</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Ghost World </i>is an adaptation of the Daniel Clowes' comic of the same name. &nbsp;It follows Enid (Thora Birch, <i>American Beauty</i>) and her friend Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson) after they graduate from high school. &nbsp;They're the prototypical outsiders, cynical and directionless, uninterested in leading the life society expects from them. &nbsp;They decide to prank call a missed connections personal ad, and follow the man, Seymour(Steve Buscemi), around, eventually meeting him. &nbsp;Rebecca and Enid drift apart as Rebecca starts focusing on getting a job and becoming part of the adult world, while Enid becomes closer to Seymour, discovering someone who she describes as "the exact opposite of all the things I hate."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The film is fantastic. &nbsp;The character of Enid and the people around her are rendered with a strong sense of irony, but not mockery. &nbsp;The insincerity of modern culture, whether it's the self-described "authentic" Blues music of an unremarkable hard rock band (composed of yuppie 20-somethings singing about picking cotton all day long, no less), or the reformed alcoholic teenager giving a speech about responsibility (and later seen drinking from a flask), drives Enid to the social fringe. &nbsp;Like with her description of Seymour, Enid and people like her define themselves as much, or even more, by what they reject than by what they love. &nbsp;Enid's attempts at employment end in disaster because she refuses to compromise, her sarcastic treatment of customers at the movie theater (beyond being a vicarious fantasy of everyone who works in the service industry) is just one of the more visible ways in which Enid's identity is incompatible with the 'real world.'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">* * *</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One other thing I really like about <i>Ghost World </i>is how well it captures the underground comic aesthetic. &nbsp;Beyond things like color scheme, there's a focus on characters that appear for only a moment, but really stick in the mind. &nbsp;Minor details make the world strange and slightly grotesque, often without being remarked upon. &nbsp;For example, in one scene a clearly pregnant woman walks directly behind Scarlett Johansson's character, holding a beer in one hand while smoking a cigarette with the other.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lplXt06-yo/VwrMlocxFDI/AAAAAAAABeI/JlYwZWtcWUwtLE_M3bh-qI7_mF5ADe9bQ/s1600/ghostworld_easteregg.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lplXt06-yo/VwrMlocxFDI/AAAAAAAABeI/JlYwZWtcWUwtLE_M3bh-qI7_mF5ADe9bQ/s400/ghostworld_easteregg.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Easter eggs abound</td></tr></tbody></table><i>Ghost World </i>is fantastic and I highly recommend it.<br /><div><br /></div><div>Rating:&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><br /><br /><br /><b>The Cross Section:</b><br /><b><br /></b> David Cross is credited on imdb as Gerrold, the Pushy Guy - Record Collector. &nbsp;He's one of Seymour's record collector friends who briefly (and awkardly) hits on Rebecca.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KCq8K7vSNOs/VwrMlrRMFjI/AAAAAAAABeI/y91gP1tvpHkTqgbeJSgX9lH6EglwYeEpQ/s1600/ghostworld_cross.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KCq8K7vSNOs/VwrMlrRMFjI/AAAAAAAABeI/y91gP1tvpHkTqgbeJSgX9lH6EglwYeEpQ/s400/ghostworld_cross.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>Screentime:&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><br /><div><br /></div><div>Cross only appears in one scene, and is never seen or referenced to again.</div><div><br /></div><div>Character:<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div><br /></div><div>This isn't a criticism of Cross's performance, rather that the character is not distinctive, and could be played by anyone capable of smarminess.&nbsp;</div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><br /></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "ghost world"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d7f4d8eb47fb7bdda81fe290d6749b1e"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-62060930900647600292016-04-12T05:30:00.000-07:002016-04-12T05:30:17.548-07:00Swiss Army ManAccording to tradition, the history of film started when Leland Stanford made a bet about whether all four of a horse's legs leave the ground when galloping. &nbsp;That same gambling instinct that has underlain the film industry ever since has stuck again, after Daniel Radcliffe lost a bet and agreed to costar in the soon-to-be-released&nbsp;<i>Swiss Army Man, </i>in which Paul Dano plays a man marooned on a desert island, and Daniel Radcliffe plays a magical farting corpse. &nbsp;No, seriously.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/yrK1f4TsQfM/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yrK1f4TsQfM?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This looks like it could actually be pretty good, or at least interesting.</div><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764001039642101892.post-1556969397580803992016-04-05T05:30:00.000-07:002017-01-11T09:35:41.708-08:00Chain of Fools (2000) - David Cross #10<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wolQxpcaBe0/Vv8m0pjRa8I/AAAAAAAABc0/qDzcu7MOdDYxGAR0jZ_Ybbj5BB6AA5xzQ/s1600/chain%2Bof%2Bfools%2Bposter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wolQxpcaBe0/Vv8m0pjRa8I/AAAAAAAABc0/qDzcu7MOdDYxGAR0jZ_Ybbj5BB6AA5xzQ/s320/chain%2Bof%2Bfools%2Bposter.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Director: Traktor &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Runtime: 98 Minutes</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Chain of Fools </i>is a "heist comedy-romance" and the first feature film by the Swedish creative advertising collective known as Traktor. &nbsp;Kresk (Steve Zahn) is a down-on-his-luck barber whose wife just divorced him when into his shop walks Avnet (Jeff Goldblum). &nbsp;Kresk overhears Avnet talking on his cell, admitting that he's the one who robbed the museum the night before, killing two guards and stealing the precious Ming dynasty coins known as the Shiny New Enemies. &nbsp;Avnet tries to kill Kresk, but through the power of slapstick Kresk gets the upper hand and puts a pair of scissors through Avnet's neck. &nbsp;Kresk gets help hiding the body from his friend Andy (David Cross) and the two of them steal the Shiny New Enemies for themselves. &nbsp;Meanwhile, the plot thickens with the introduction of Salma Hayek as Detective Kolko, who's investigating the theft of the coins and falls in love with Kresk, Elijah Wood shows up as Mikey, a teenage hitman who really just wants to make new friends, Paulie, an illiterate mob boss, and Kresk's terrible nephew who promptly swallows the coins.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SsQLwu2KMXA/VwLQM7FIutI/AAAAAAAABdQ/jIfqG8Ban9w1Yvqns3c7U5WXt0pS1Sakw/s1600/chain%2Bof%2Bfools%2Bcross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SsQLwu2KMXA/VwLQM7FIutI/AAAAAAAABdQ/jIfqG8Ban9w1Yvqns3c7U5WXt0pS1Sakw/s320/chain%2Bof%2Bfools%2Bcross.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The characters in the film all seem like suggestions from an improv comedy game, which may also speak to Traktor's history in very short film. &nbsp;Steve Zahn's a suicidal barber, and if you replaced all his lines with "aw, shucks," the story wouldn't change much. &nbsp;Salma Hayek's the cop who was also appeared in Playboy. &nbsp;David Cross wears a "Timber Scouts" uniform throughout the movie, and when we first see him it's at the Timber Scouts store he owns, where he berates a child to tears for not knowing how to tie a box knot before ripping merit badges off the kid's chest. &nbsp;Oddly enough, suicide is a prominent theme throughout the movie. &nbsp;A couple main characters attempt to kill themselves, and it turns out that pretty much everyone had at least one parent take their own life, which makes for a really awkward romantic dinner scene. &nbsp;But through the power of friendship, love, and murdering a bunch of criminals, they all live happily ever after.&nbsp;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The film has a lot of memorable characters, but it's so packed with them that we don't really get as much as we'd like for most of them. Kresk and Det. Kolko's relationship is completely out of nowhere and unbelievable (e.g. "You seem like a nice guy. &nbsp;And your parents killed themselves? &nbsp;So did my dad! &nbsp;I'm in love with you now.") The characters that we get a lot of are two-dimensional, and are probably better suited to sketch comedy than a feature film.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="post-footer" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #919191; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, FreeSerif, serif; font-size: 13.5px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><br /><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-7465191194889806368" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; position: relative; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; width: 578px; word-spacing: 0px;"><div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: &quot;times new roman&quot; , &quot;times&quot; , &quot;freeserif&quot; , serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px;">Rating:&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div style="color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">The Cross-Section:</h3></div><div>Cross, with his history in sketch comedy, is a lot of fun whenever he's onscreen, given his wacky character. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CGo1EHZEi0Y/VwLWoecrzYI/AAAAAAAABdk/kRbNNk3dmucxJdxL-_JUZVHQQpm7wwcnA/s1600/cross_chain.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CGo1EHZEi0Y/VwLWoecrzYI/AAAAAAAABdk/kRbNNk3dmucxJdxL-_JUZVHQQpm7wwcnA/s400/cross_chain.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unfortunately, there are large gaps where the character is not present.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Screentime:&nbsp;<span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><div><br /></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; font-family: 'times new roman', times, freeserif, serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 1.4;"></div></div>Character/performance:&nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">★</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 24px; text-align: center;">☆</span></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript">amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "kahscor-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "chain of fools movie"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "d7f4d8eb47fb7bdda81fe290d6749b1e"; </script><br /><script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script><br />Matt Kahnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07036604086152459854noreply@blogger.com0